


Preconceived Notions

by youcouldmakealife



Series: Impaired Judgment (and other excuses) [97]
Category: Original Work
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-26
Updated: 2019-08-26
Packaged: 2020-09-27 10:57:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,943
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20406601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/youcouldmakealife/pseuds/youcouldmakealife
Summary: “What’s your problem with Bryce?” Jared asks.“Nothing,” Julius says.“Nothing,” Jared repeats.Julius shrugs.“Dude, my fiancé is going around thinking you hate him, and I honestly can’t argue with him on that because you’re acting like you do, and it’s super shitty, so what isup?” Jared asks.





	Preconceived Notions

Jared’s mom doesn’t seem quite as excited as Elaine to talk wedding plans, but it takes like, two minutes before Elaine’s contagious enthusiasm reels her in and they start basically planning their wedding for them, with bonus stupid interjections from Erin. He knew she’d want horses. _Knew_ it.

Dad frees Julius from the kitchen about an hour before dinner, and Julius squeezes in between Jared and the arm of the couch. He doesn’t look rattled by all the dad exposure, but as mom and Elaine cheerfully bicker about what the best kind of reception dinner is, multiple courses, or a buffet, or having the reception mid-afternoon so it’s just hors d'oeuvres — Jared is so overwhelmed just thinking about the food, maybe they should elope — that’s when he starts looking rattled. Which is weird. You’d think he’d had enough firsthand food talk in the kitchen, and it’s not _him_ suddenly contemplating whether City Hall’s open on Boxing Day. 

The wedding talk breaks so his mom can grab her and Elaine another bottle of wine from the kitchen. They’re both getting tipsy, and Jared is concerned the next cheerful argument will get more heated, becoming like, a fight about the best flower arrangement. Well. He can’t see Elaine doing that, but his mom? Absolutely.

He finds Erin setting the table in the dining room they only use for special occasions, and says, “I’m going to have a talk with Julius, don’t start that ‘mom Jared’s in his room with his door shut’ shit.”

“Are you going to ask why he’s being all weird to Bryce?” Erin asks.

She’s gotten too perceptive since he moved out. “Yes,” he says.

“Okay,” Erin says. “No yelling for mom, talk away.”

“Good,” Jared says. “You — keep following Bryce around like a weirdass shadow.”

“Planned on it,” she says, then calls, “Bryce, come help me pick out my outfit for a New Year’s party?”

“Oh, that’s good,” Jared murmurs. Very effective. They’ll take forever.

“I’m not doing it for you, he has actual taste,” Erin says.

“I have taste,” Jared says.

“When you wear shit he bought you have taste,” Erin says. “When you don’t — well.”

Jared gives her the finger.

“What kind of look are we going for?” Bryce says, popping his head in the doorway with a grin on his face, clearly delighted to be asked.

“Let me show you my options as soon as I’m done this?” Erin asks, and Bryce starts assisting her with setting the table. Jared presses a kiss to his neck before heading back to the living room.

“You,” he says, pointing at Julius, on his phone in the living room. “Follow me.”

Julius looks up from his phone. “I am comfortable,” he says. 

“Too bad,” Jared says, and Julius sulkily follows him upstairs.

Jared’s trying to think of a way to actually get shit out of him without like, turning it into a big ass argument. It’s Christmas, for one, but also they’re going to be driving back together, and sharing a room all the time, and the last thing Jared needs is a blowout with the guy he spends most of his time with, so he’ll go easy. Well, as easy as he can. He’s not really good at going easy, honestly.

Julius starts rooting around his room, scoffing at the Flames calendar over Jared’s desk, years outdated and still open to Bryce’s month, which is a good an opening as anything.

“What’s your problem with Bryce?” Jared asks.

“Nothing,” Julius says.

“Nothing,” Jared repeats.

Julius shrugs.

“Dude, my fiancé is going around thinking you hate him, and I honestly can’t argue with him on that because you’re acting like you do, and it’s super shitty, so what is _up_?” Jared asks.

Julius doesn’t say anything.

“_Halla_,” Jared snaps.

“He’s not good,” Julius mumbles.

“Not good?” Jared asks. “At what? Hockey? Like, have you seen him play? I mean, you’re a hockey genius, so maybe it’s not impressive to you, but—”

“I’m not talking about hockey,” Julius says.

“No?” Jared asks. “Then what are you talking about? Because literally the only thing you know about him is his hockey, you’ve barely even talked to him.”

“He hasn’t talked either,” Julius retorts.

“You look like you’re about to fucking bolt every time he tries!” Jared says.

Julius crosses his arms.

“I watched a lot of NHL hockey,” he says. 

“Okay?” Jared says. “Cool, me too, what’s your point?”

“Before I was going to be drafted, I watched. I wanted to see who I would be playing with,” Julius says slowly, and Jared waits him out, because he can tell Julius is trying to figure out how to get his point across, as irrelevant as it seems right now. Like, all you can see from Bryce’s play is he’s talented as shit and he’s got a bit of a temper that can get him in trouble, and fuck knows Julius didn’t scorn Brouwer for having a much worse temper, minus the talent. “I looked up best players on every team. See stats, help my English reading.”

And fuck, there it is. Bryce’s Wikipedia alone is a fucking mess. He’s got a damn ‘controversies’ section. Jared _read_ that controversies section when he went on his ammunition spree at camp. Jared has been very tempted to go delete it since, but he’s sure it’d just come back.

Jared sits on his bed. “Okay, so like. Honestly this is Bryce’s business and not yours, but like. He isn’t the guy you read about anymore.”

Julius gives him the most passive-aggressive eyebrow in the world.

“Okay like, obviously he’s the same person, he didn’t like, get possessed and do that shit, that was him, but he’s grown a fuckton as a person,” Jared says. “I would know, since like, I’ve been there while he’s done it.”

“He punched an Oilers fan,” Julius says.

Jared can see how that would be unamusing from the perspective of someone who was not a lifelong Oilers hater, and, is in fact, an Oiler.

“I mean, he’s punched Oilers players too,” Jared jokes weakly, and Julius looks the opposite of amused. Alarmed might actually be the word. Extremely alarmed might even be better.

“Oh my god, not _me_,” Jared says. 

“No?” Julius asks.

“Fuck, of course not,” Jared says, but Julius doesn’t look even remotely relieved.

“What, are you like, worried about me?” Jared asks.

“Yes,” Julius says without hesitation, and under his annoyance, Jared’s slightly touched by that.

“I know I sound like someone who’s trying to make excuses for him right now, but I’m really not,” Jared says. “I called him on all that shit from the very beginning, and he’s — he was dealing with shit—”

Julius opens his mouth.

“I’m not making excuses, I’m just giving you context,” Jared says. “Explaining,” he adds, when Julius looks confused. “And I’m not going to go into it, because again, that’s Bryce’s business and it’s not really my thing to tell. But we’ve been together for like, years now, and he’s like — so different than the person he was before then, or not even different, he just —”

He’s not explaining himself well, he knows he isn’t, and that’s even without the language barrier.

“Just give him a chance for who he is right now?” Jared says. “Not the things you read about him, not the gossip, but the guy who’s actually here, because he’s really trying here, and it’s super unfair for you to be judging things on paper instead of the actual person.”

“Those are things to judge,” Julius says.

“I know they are,” Jared says. “I’m not telling you to just — you can remember them, but they’re not like, the whole Bryce, not even close, so can you just give him a chance? Please?”

“Even your father doesn’t like Bryce,” Julius says.

“Yeah, and that’s a whole other thing and frankly he shouldn’t have fucking told you that,” Jared says.

“He didn’t tell me,” Julius says. “I could see.”

Jared blows out a breath.

“My dad doesn’t like Bryce because of all that shit, and because we got together when I was seventeen,” Jared says, and by Julius’ face, that’s the opposite of helpful. “Your girlfriend’s seventeen!”

“I’m eighteen,” Julius points out.

“He was twenty, it wasn’t that big a deal,” Jared says. “I was like — a super mature seventeen year old, and he was like — a really not mature twenty year old. Anyway, they didn’t start off on the right foot and my dad is stubborn and he doesn’t change his mind a lot. My mom wasn’t happy about it either, but she likes Bryce now that she actually gave him a chance.”

God, everything he says is making their relationship sound more and more sketchy and wrong and weird and it _isn’t_. Raf was there at the start, so there was no real explanation needed, and Chaz actually knew Bryce for the sweet earnest dork that he is, so that went fine once he actually believed Jared, barring the fact Chaz thought Bryce was cheating on him for a minute, but with Julius he feels like he’s up against a brick wall here.

“Just — please, give him a chance?” Jared says. “For me, if you aren’t going to do it for his sake.”

Julius is quiet.

“Please?” Jared repeats.

“Fine,” Julius mumbles.

“Thank you,” Jared says. “He’s a really great guy. People don’t give him a chance, like, ever, but he’s seriously such a great guy. Like, one of the nicest people I’ve ever met, and I—”

“I said I would give him a chance,” Julius mutters.

“I know,” Jared says, fiddling with his old comforter. “You want a beer?”

“Yes,” Julius says, sounding relieved, and they head downstairs to find his mom and Elaine discussing who in their extended families should be invited, Bryce and Erin apparently still upstairs deciding on her look for New Year’s.

“Boys, help me get everything out,” his dad says when they go to the kitchen, and the beer has to wait, Jared pouring everyone wine — a small splash for Erin because that’s the Matheson Special Occasion Rule, a generous helpful for himself because that’s the Jared Matheson Fucking Deserves It Rule — while Julius runs back and forth from the kitchen with food until the table’s practically groaning under the weight of it.

There is absolutely no way that they can eat all this, and considering there’s going to be three professional hockey players at the table, that’s saying something. Julius may be a string bean, but that’s not because he isn’t eating enough — hell, he eats more than Jared does. Jared doesn’t even want to think about the grocery bill his parents racked up for this.

He goes and grabs his wallet from his coat, slides all the cash he has into his mom’s purse, left unattended on the kitchen table, while his dad is distracted. Julius sees him do it, but he doesn’t snitch, at least. They find out now, they’ll give it back, and if he refuses to take it, he’ll probably just find it in his wallet or his coat pocket or something when he gets home. If they don’t find it until after he leaves, they’ll probably protest weakly, but, you know, take it. 

Dinner’s crazy delicious — Jared is officially annoyed his dad became a cooking maniac after he moved out, because packing in the calories he needed not to burn the weight right off would have been easy if everything tasted this good — and less awkward than it could have been. A lot of that’s Elaine being Elaine, with bonus tipsiness, which just makes her even more friendly than usual, but his dad’s too busy beaming at all the compliments to say anything barbed at Bryce, Julius doesn’t say a word, which is usual, but probably couldn’t even if he wanted to, since he’s constantly eating, and Erin keeps sucking up to Bryce, which is clearly making Bryce happy. Jared will tentatively call it a win, but like, they still have hours to go. 

They do presents after dinner, and the pile of presents Jared got Erin looks bigger than it should. Like. Bigger than mom and dad’s piles combined, and her stuff was generally cheaper — good kitchen stuff is not cheap — but. It’s too big. And it’s not even Bryce’s fault. There’s a few from him, but most of them Jared bought himself. He didn’t realise how many there were until they’re teetering ominously beside her.

“Weird, it’s like you like me or something,” Erin says, eyeing her pile.

“Bryce bought most of them,” Jared says. “I couldn’t stop him.”

“No I didn’t,” Bryce says, sounding confused. “I only bought—”

“Shut up Bryce,” Jared hisses.

Erin smirks, then smirks wider when Jared literally claps a hand over Bryce’s mouth to stop his continued protests.

“Thanks bro,” she says, overly sweet, like she ever calls him that, and Jared glares at Bryce, who just looks back at him with the same confused look.

“What the hell?” Bryce mumbles at him.

“I have a reputation to maintain,” Jared mumbles back.

“And doing something nice is bad?” Bryce asks. He understands nothing about sibling relationships.

His parents got presents for everyone — Jared is extra glad he stuffed money in his mom’s purse, since he foisted Julius on them last minute, and Jared and Julius are now very not proud owners of ugly Oilers Christmas sweaters of their own, Bryce a Flames one. Jared nabs Bryce’s, pulling it on, and the look of grave offence on Julius’ face is fucking beautiful. He hope so badly Elaine snapped a picture of it, as the unofficial photographer of present opening.

After two plates of food and two glasses of wine, Jared’s pretty wiped, and everyone else seems to be too, judging by the shrugs when his dad offers dessert and the much more interested reaction to coffee. It’s kind of late for it, but since only Jared and Bryce are under the legal limit — well, Julius only had a glass of wine, but he also doesn’t have his licence in Canada yet — one of them’s going to have to do the ride back.

“Jared get you that ring for Christmas?” his dad asks Bryce when he hands the coffee to him, and Jared tenses, waiting for something snide. Well, Elaine’s sitting right beside him, so maybe not, but — “Notice you’re wearing it on your left hand.”

Jared wonders if that’s his dad like, checking they didn’t elope over the break. Honestly, they should have. Hindsight sucks.

“It’s an engagement ring,” Bryce says, apparently hearing the implied question too. “It didn’t seem right for just him to be wearing one just ‘cause I was the one who proposed. Well—”

Jared snorts, because yeah, he kind of didn’t have a chance to do it right before Jared said yes.

“We’re like, partners in this, so,” Bryce says.

“Aww,” Erin says, half mocking, half genuine, which is kind of how Jared feels. Well, all genuine, but Bryce is just so _sincere_. It’s a foreign language in this household. All sincerity must be masked with mockery or the Mathesons will malfunction.

His dad definitely does look like he’s malfunctioning, probably short-circuiting because he can’t be snide in front of Elaine if he wants to keep pretending he’s nice. Jared’s sure Elaine knows how big a dick his dad can be to Bryce, but she hasn’t shown it, and his dad’s been on his best behaviour in front of her.

“We’re thinking summer,” Jared says, and his dad looks even more malfunction-y.

“This summer?” he asks, finally, after visibly considering and tossing several probably undiplomatic responses.

“Yeah,” Jared says.

“Not long to plan the wedding,” his dad says.

Jared shrugs. “Worst case, we elope.”

“We’re not _eloping_,” Bryce says, looking more scandalised than any of the parents. Damn it. Jared guesses eloping isn’t an option, then. 

“Dibs on maid of honour,” Erin says.

“I dunno if we’re even doing that stuff,” Jared says.

“Dibs on maid of honour,” Erin repeats, voice steely.

“You can be my maid of honour, Erin,” Bryce says.

“Deal, you’re way better than Jared,” Erin says. “Dude, stop sulking.”

“I’m not sulking,” Jared mutters. “Bryce can have you.”

“We can share,” Bryce offers, nudging Jared’s shoulder. 

“No, take my stupid sister,” Jared says.

“Jared,” his mom says, but like, the chiding doesn’t work when she sounds amused.

“Is dad going to walk you down the aisle?” Erin asks.

“I’m _not a bride_, Erin,” Jared says. He still wouldn’t put it past his dad to plant his feet and refuse to move, especially judging by the look on his face right now. “And like, it’s not going to be a traditional wedding or anything anyway, we’ll probably just do City Hall or something.”

Bryce’s face gets even more scandalised than when Jared brought up eloping, so he guesses that one’s a no too. They should probably actually talk about this wedding thing. Jared has a sinking feeling it is going to be way more fancy and dramatic and stuff than what he has in his head. Which — makes sense. Bryce doesn’t exactly do things by half-measures.

“Or we’re not doing City Hall,” Jared says, and Bryce like, visibly relaxes. He’s so dramatic. “We’ll figure it out.”

“Not a lot of time,” his dad repeats. “Especially since you’re in the middle of the season.”

Jared shrugs. “The event matters less than like, the us being married at the end of it part, so. Whatever we do, it’ll be good.”

“God, stop being so sappy,” Erin groans, but Bryce is smiling, so Jared will not.


End file.
